Crew Stories

October 1^st 2010

After a good night of saying goodbye to our first crew we had a very nice party at Amnesia in Ibiza. Mario and Marianne were a bit disappointed, we became a good crew/team. For Mario as captain it was nice to see everybody helped to sail and enjoy the boat. We very much appreciated John’s input on safety.

We had to motor down to Palma because we got some slack on the shrouds, we had to let a rigging company check it for safety. Onno of a rigging company in Palma de Mallorca, checked and it was mostly the case of new lines. Solution tension and keep a look at it (what you always should do).

October 2^nd 2010

Everybody had to say goodbye. Mario, Marianne and Jorgen were part of the first crew who stayed. Brittany and Lynn left us and went back to El Gouna where we will meet them again. After some drinks with the entire crew we got to sleep and they took a plane in the morning.

October 3^rd 2010

We fuelled in Palma, got a real nice burger and we sailed to Cagliari. Because on the last hour of a big passage we got really bad waves was altered we ended to our shelter at Calasetta. The night has been rough. Mario sleeps at the port forward cabin and heard wind increasing tensioned ropes at 3 o’clock. At 5 o’clock Cayman discovered a broken fender, the wind force was 6/7 on the nose.

In the morning wind died and got to force 2.

Together with Marcel, Wouter, Cayman, Jorgen, Valerie and Marianne we had a great dinner. The shrimps were so fresh even Marcel and Wouter licked their fingers. Marianne tasted them and claimed to eat them for the first time. My opinion they were delicious.

Marcel had to leave and booked a ticket. We calculated it would take him hours to get a taxi. We walked to town for a taxi but no taxi to Calasetta only one hour left no taxi and the bus would take 3 hours. Finally we found a nice shoemaker in the bar. He brought Marcel to the airport and he made it on time.

Meanwhile we had to leave our birth because a fishing boat needed to dock. Because of the nice weather we left for Cagliari to get fuel for the next big crossing to Palermo. The trip took us five hours. Still some large rolling seas however close to shore it was ok. After fuelling and taking water we decided to leave. Cayman and I went to the office of the coastguard and informed them of our plan which they agreed was fine. As the Ocean Diva was leaving the harbour an official from the marina chased us down and ordered us to return to the marina to file paperwork. Cayman informed Mario to pass the kind gentleman a fifty euro bill which immediately solved our problem, an “Italian tip”.

October 6^th 2010

A calm sea and full bellies and a bit of music and dancing provided us with big smiles and good spirits for a short period of time. Because the thunder storm approached the large sea and gust of wind began. The Ocean Diva is a real save catamaran and handled perfectly in the large sea. We reached a speed of 8 knots and a nice breeze of 18kts on the nose was no problem. We arrived at Palermo, Sicily and we were sorry to see Jorgen leave for home. Saying goodbye to a fellow crew member again is such a shame. We had a good help from him and we would miss his abilities at the helm and his company during watch. It’s too bad he wasn’t able to join us all the way to Egypt. Our first morning in Palermo we all went ashore for a sandwich and a quick walk through the beautiful town. Valerie and Cayman walked to the top of the hill to take pictures of OD from the presidential palace. Wouter made arrangements for our nameplates and handled some of our business and formalities. Mario and Marianne took a nap as they had the first watch for the trip while Cayman and Wouter took a taxi to stock up on a large amount of Sicilian wine and salamis to bring home to Egypt each spending a few hundred euro a piece for the most important of provisions. We set our course for the Aeolian island of Stromboli to witness one of the most active volcanoes in the world. After an 8 hour sail we arrived half a mile below the volcano and watched it erupt and shoot hot red lava 100 metres into the air against the backdrop of the sun rising over the Med. Absolutely an amazing sight.

8^th October 2010

New direction to Mesina. We passed between Sicily and the boot of Italy. As we approached through the channel a massive cargo ship passed leaving us an enormous wave of 3 metres which Wouter aimed for at full throttle. As the boat jumped off the massive wave crashing into the sea waking everybody that was sleeping. Visiting Rebbio Lalabria and stopping at the pier for fuel and water and a quick taxi ride into town for coffee from our infamous taxi driver whom insisted of his celebrity status. He sold Cayman a wheel of cheese for 25 euro and provided us with a few bottles of frozen water to keep our drinks cool.

9^th October 2010

Leaving the strait of Messina the clicker of the fishing rod began to scream. With great excitement Cayman ran for the fishing rod and began reeling in what he thought was a large tuna. After 5 minutes of reeling Cayman pulled a large black trash bag from the sea with a frown on his face. He posed for pictures anyways with his catch. After 200 miles of rough cold windy weather we exhausted our fuel supply and had to make an emergency stop at Pattras near the famous bridge of Corinth which is featured on the 500 euro bill. It was a nice break from the 35 kt winds and freezing cold ocean spray. We parked OD in a very small yacht club which we were by far the largest yacht in the marina. We decided to go ashore. We entered a swanky and luxurious bistro where everyone was dressed in their finest. We entered wet and salty still dressed in our foul weather gear and placed ourselves on a velvet lounge. One drink, two drinks, then a bit too many drinks. Later the owner of the bistro insisted we join him for multiple rounds of free shots of his finest bottle of liquor. Cayman left first heading back to the boat as the others stayed attempting to wake up Mario. As everyone walked down the pier Cayman had already started the music on OD a bit too loud disturbing the frenchies on the boat next to us whom immediately expressed their displeasure. Wouter won a hundred euro from Cayman who bet him that he wouldn’t dive into the cold water of the marina completely naked. Obviously Wouter is now 100 euro wealthier.

10^th October 2010

Passing through the impressive channel of Corinth which was cut from 300 metres high and 5 miles long through the solid rock of a mountain by hand. The Corinth channel is the most expensive channel in the world to pass per distance. The crew of OD passed safely through the channel with less than 2 metres on both sides. At night the channel was poorly lit requiring all crewmembers to keep a watchful eye. Navigating safely through the channel and arriving at the end we all agreed to reward ourselves with a nice pork dinner ashore.

We then left for the city of Pireaus in Athens, Greece. Arriving at 1 am we all went  to bed for a good night sleep. Upon awaking the next morning we realised that we had a very short weather window to cross the Greek isles safely.

11^th October 2010

After a very cold night of navigating through the Greek islands we arrived in the historic city of Rhodes witnessing a beautiful sunrise over calm seas, a nice change of pace from our previous 600 miles of stormy cold rough seas.

After washing the salt of the boat and taking on fuel we were sad to say goodbye to another crewmember, mister Wouter Kabouter. To celebrate his departure we feasted on a copious amount of traditional Greek food from the sea and land. Now we are checking our weather window and planning our route to Cyprus which will provide us with the final leg of our trip to Egypt.

Crew Stories

30 september 2010

Yesterday was a sad day. We were in Denia, the hometown of the boats of Mario and John, and also were John lives. First we had a good lunch in the marina. After lunch it was time to say goodbye to John L. Our first crew member who leaves the boat, unfortunately.. Thanks John, I still don’t get the true and apparent wind yadayada, but who cares! First a newspaper, cup of coffee.. I enjoyed your company very much.

On our way to Ibiza we found out where the noise came from that we heard when we were sailing half wind. The shrouds made loud noises and were too loose, so loose that it would be dangerous to sail to Ibiza. We had to continue by motor which was a shame because the wind was perfect. And to be honest, I was sleeping which is much better without the sound of the engines..

At about 1 o’clock in the evening we arrived in Ibiza. The plan was to go to shore and have  a drink  and have a calm evening and maybe catch up on our sleep. But, in Ibiza that should not be an option. Time to party! So we went to the club called Amnesia (which is a good name..) there was some serious clubbing going on with man dressed as women and some English who insisted on taking of their pants on stage(why?!). There was also a girl dressed as a policewoman without pants with the highest heals ever that i thought was pretty impressive.. anyway to make a long story short: of course some of us lost their jacket ticket and we had to wait until closing time and we had some of the best hotdogs in our entire life, Brittany lost and found her flip-flop in the foam and Lynn lost and found her phone. We were back at the boat around 8 and now we’re off to Palma de Mallorca, where we have to say goodbye again to Lynn and Brittany, not looking forward to that..

Written by Marianne 

Crew Stories

September the 28th:


What a beautiful day... we ’re going along the coast, we ‘re watching flying fishes and there are no clouds... . On top of this at the moment Marcel is baking pancakes for us. I don ‘t know how they will taste, but we ‘re gonna try it again on John’s way... pancakes with lemon. I’m curious...

This beautiful day will bring us soon to Denia (of course the plan has changed again) to visit the city of John and unfortunately he stays there to be with his dog. Lucky we have a new member of the crew now, Jurgen, because otherwise we would have to much space to sleep on Ocean Diva II.

Although I’m very excited to visit the port of Denia and to watch the motor yacht of Mario and the sailing boat of John. Of course both captains talked a lot about their boats on this trip.

While I’m eating now ( I ‘ve to admit) a delicious pancake, I can ‘t believe me and Brittany almost have to leave Ocean Diva II. She ‘s so nice and big that you can do a lot on it: you can race with the Dragonfly or other racing boats , you can listen to the wind and fly above 17 knots, you can climb like a monkey in the mast, you can struggle with a rope and brake your finger, you can dance like in the disco, you can cook not-canned meals and have a nice barbeque, you can fish on the stern without results, you can relax on the net or doing catch, you can sleep close to the engine and sleep like a baby ... and yes we did it all and I will miss it... so before this moment is over, I’m now going to enjoy a bit more of the sailing...

Written by Lynn

John - Memoirs from the Diva

As the final leg of my journey approaches, the familiar coastline of rugged Andalucian hills gently drifts by on the port side and the waves and swell glide by on the other.


I joined the trip at the start in Rochford, France. Having delivered boats with Mario, the skipper, previously I knew it was going to be an upbeat trip. It is never a dull watch when he is in his party mood. He is a little lad with a big smile when you have just reefed the sails in pouring rain and a kicking sea he invariably returns the helm grinning to announce ‘’w ell that was fun shall we do it again’’.

I run an engineering company in Spain, I have done engineering work on Ocean Voyager boats in Spain at Denia and Ibiza so knew that long distance cruising comforts are few and far between. To get the chance to sail one long distance was an opportunity I could not miss. When I first saw her, Ocean Diva II was open, exposed and an imposing sight. The mast towered over the cranes in the adjacent work yard. The modern lines, aggressive red colour scheme and Brunellian strength of construction throws down the challenge of - Play with me… if you think your tough enough!

The first days in Rochell were spent investigating lockers, fitting sails and helping where we could. Then the big day we went to sea trials with OY engineers to move her to her new tempory home. The journey had started.

Setting the Main Sail gets her going but launching the Geniker bumps her into hyper-drive. We took a beam reach across the bay from La Rochell and watched as the OY trimmers pushed her up to speed. Pack up your PlayStation, turn off the Wii this thing is fun… you have got to try it.

After a frustratingly short glimpse of what she could do we got back to the reality of the job in hand. Ocean Diva II is an open deck, fast reaching party boat. Our job was to get her 2000miles safely, crossing; Biscay, one of the most unpredictable patches of water - Atlantic , one of the most aggressive and Mediterranean, one of the most underestimated. I have worked on boats in Spain for 5 years and sailed the Med extensively. I have seen some of the most disturbed waters and strong catabatic winds come from nowhere in the matter of minutes.

You meet a new group of people on almost every delivery or voyage. Preparing the boat and shopping is the first chance you get to establish the team dynamics and see everybody’s strengths and weaknesses. Before we knew it we were ready to go, everybody contributed 100% and we had fun throughout. That is how it has continued through the rest of the journey. People have joined us and left us. We have seen wind and rough water but we have had a thrilling joy ride and enjoyed evry minute. The personality of the boat is defined – A fast, fun party boat.

Good luck ‘Orange Project’ with your new toy. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on your boat. It has been a. Thank you.

To Mario, Britney, Lynn and Marianne who were there at the start – We have come a long way together…. It’s been a Blast. Love ya.

To everybody who has joined us on route thanks for contributing to my experience.

Crew Stories

The Crew......

27th september 2010

After a good old fashioned english breakfast made by John we were headed for Malaga. We spotted a boat from the Volvo Ocean Race, the Lithuation team. The wind was in our back and pretty good, we did an average of 10 knots. Pretty soon we were in competion because it was clear they were headed for the port of Malaga as well. Needless to say that it was a good competition and after trimming our salis and some giping we beat them. We met them in the port later.

We picked up our new crewmember Jorgen and decided not to stay in the port of Malaga because it was a commercial port: ugly and pricy as well. So at midnight we sailed for another port where we are now, which is Almerimar. For our Dutch readers: something like Almere Haven, probably, only totally different. Much nicer than the commercial port: with showers, launderette, everything you need after sailing for a couple of nights.

Marcel and I started the first watch from 23.00 to 2.00 o’clock. The waves were according to Marcel 3 to 4 meters high. I wasn’t sure, it seemed high and my nightvision... is good for very large ships nearby. The wind was picking up and Ocean Diva glided over the waves making waves of her own too, like the diva she is. Speedwise we had a new record: 17.7 knots! Ocean Diva wobbled like never before, I love it when I go to sleep it’s really soothing in combination with the sounds of the water and waves.
Now we are relaxing a bit, doing some shopping, getting something to eat this evening and we will leave around 2 in the morning.


Written by Marianne

Crew Stories

September the 26^th :

Arriving at Lisbon Port Alcantara we had to call the marina to open the bridge, at first there was no answer so Mario kept on trying by vhf. He got an answer “the bridge is open”  we didn’t see it opening so we got an annoyed answer. After more than a hour the DragonFly arrived, they had the same problem especially because they used Ocean Diva as calling name. John had prepared a nice chilli con carne for the crew while mario arranged a mooring for the DragonFly “Archimedes” .The dragonfly entered the mooring and of course they had a problem with the mooring rope (tangled in the bow thruster)  Again Mario went with his head in the water. Problem solved.

After transferring Marcel back to the Ocean Diva the crew said goodbye to the crew of the DragonFly “Kristof, Joris, Saskia”, unfortunately for them the trip ended in Lisbon. The DragonFly will stay at Lisbon for a couple of weeks.

John set sail and left the mooring key heading for Malaga. Wind 10 to 15 knots up to Cape Vincent. The swell got bigger 3-4 meters and on top of that the waves generated by the wind which added an extra half meter. The Diva handled it like she was enjoying it and so did we. A few hours later the crew prepared to get some sleep and started with the watch. 20 minutes later we received a call on the vhf, Mario responded and woke up the crew to change the course and prepare for a jibe, John got up in his underwear, Marcel only in his shorts, Marianne and Lynn (in full sailing gear) where still on deck, Brittany was on her brake. It was a fishing vessel which easily could have taken a different course, we think it was just to mess with the Ocean Diva. After we passed he turned on the spot more than 180 degrees.

Early in the morning the wind dropped. The gennaker  was set. Wind dropped further we needed to fold the gennaker again. But it got stuck on the furler. John had to do some acrobats on the gennaker sprit attaching a rope above the sea, together with Marcel and Brittany eventually they got it, waking up everyone with a lot of noise. Lynn and Mario had to dodge 2 vessels but this did not cause a lot of problems.

The Crew......

dragonfly (fotos from monday)